Courtesy Photo | Tarheel Challenge Academy cadets graduate from the five-month resident phase...... read more read more
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SALEMBURG, N.C. – It is 6 a.m. in the small quiet town of Salemburg where most residents are just beginning to start their day. For 136 Tarheel Challenge Academy cadets, their day began more than one hour earlier.
Well before 6 a.m., cadets are up hustling to conduct personal hygiene, put on their workout clothes, conduct physical fitness training, make their beds and straighten up there living quarters before breakfast and first formation. Every day at the Tarheel Challenge Academy is designed to challenge and transform each cadet, over time, from an “at-risk” youth who dropped out or was expelled from high school into an educated, disciplined and confident young adult.
Since its inception in 1994 Tarheel Challenge Academy, a program sponsored the North Carolina National Guard, has proven extremely successful in giving young people the tools and direction to become thriving and productive citizens within their community. The core components of the program concentrate on the well being of the “whole person” and not just educational opportunity and a General Education Development High School Equivalency Diploma.
The academy is a voluntary 17-month program divided into two distinct phases: a five-month residential phase at the academy’s Salemburg campus, in Sampson County, and a 12-month post-residential phase at the cadet’s home of record.
“I always wanted to do better in school and this program is helping me focus on who I am and what I can become,” said Cadet Juwan Satchell a Matthews, N.C., native.
During residential phase, cadets are supervised by cadre staff members 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. They wear uniforms, do physical training, attend classes, and learn to work within a structured and disciplined environment. The resident phase emphasizes life skills, self-discipline, teamwork, team building, work ethics, respect for others, self-esteem, loyalty, and integrity in addition to the core component requirements.
“This program is a highly regimented and structured environment that equips graduates with the values, skills, education, self-discipline, personal confidence and direction necessary to succeed as adults,” said Mr. Edward Timmons, director of Tarheel Challenge Academy.
"Tarheel Challenge Academy is a once in a lifetime, second chance opportunity for hundreds of “at-risk” North Carolinian youth who have had trouble in high school succeeding and gives them the skills and attitude to become productive citizens in their communities.”
Applications to attend TCA have ranged from 359 to 448 per class with only 150-200 being accepted into the program.
“TCA is run along “quasi-military” school lines,” said Mr. Dwight Robinson, an instructor at TCA for 11 years. “It [TCA] is not about control like Army boot camp. It’s much more. It’s about providing direction, taking ownership in your decisions, a structured lifestyle with guidance in leadership, teamwork and character building.”
TCA is not for everyone. Of the 171, 16-18 year old cadets that volunteered and were admitted into the January 2014 class, 136 remain.
“At first it was very hard to get up early in the morning every day, stay on schedule, go to school, clean your living area and basically by responsible for everything I did all the time,” said Cadet Oshya Ali-Miller, from Winston-Salem, N.C. “Challenge is helping me start over and get an education so I can have a successful life.”
During the resident phase, family days are scheduled to allow parents to visit their son or daughter. When cadets were asked if their parents had seen a transformation in them, the vast majority answered yes.
Miller said, “When my parents came to see me during family day they definitely saw a change in me. I was respectful, stood up straight and looked them in eye when speaking. I was happy.”
Upon graduation, a 12 month post-residential phase begins immediately with a skilled and trained volunteer mentor from the graduate’s community. The mentor’s job is to help achieve a positive and durable environment for the TCA graduate. In this phase the graduates continue their education, begin working a full time job and some join the military. Mentors, who are supervised by a TCA case officer, meet once a month at a minimum with each graduate.
Former Chief of the National Guard Bureau, Army Lt. Gen. H. Steven Blum said, “For many cadets, the National Guard Youth Challenge Program is perceived as their last, best chance. This program was designed to open doors and provides a roadmap for achievement and a taste of accomplishment that lasts long after cadets’ graduate.”
Cadet Wesley Anderson, a native of Oxford, N.C., believes the academy is a huge opportunity for teenagers like him to start again and change how they live.
“I would tell anyone thinking about coming here to definitely apply. It will change your life, but you need to be willing to take on the challenge. TCA has changed me a lot,” said Anderson.
“Tarheel Challenge works,” said Timmons. “This program helps only a small number of the over 21,000 high school dropouts in the state, so that is why TCA is growing, and by 2015 we will have a campus in New London with a third campus proposed within the next two to five years.”
According to academy records, 3,806 youths have graduated from the program since 1994. Of these 2,648 have obtained their GED while in the resident phase and 90 percent remain employed, in school or in the military.
After the program is complete, the overwhelming majority of graduates have reclaimed their lives with the values, skills, education, and self-discipline necessary to succeed as adults.
The current class continues this tradition. In the cold early morning air, cadets one by one file quietly into the dining facility for breakfast. They all pass by a stone monument located near the entrance. The monument reads: “If it is to be, it is up to me.” At Tarheel Challenge Academy it is up to each cadet, no one else, to take the challenge, accept responsibility in their lives and transform into successful young adults.
For the past 20 years, Tarheel Challenge Academy can proudly say they have improved the lives of thousands of fellow Carolinians and will continue to provide value to communities across the state.
| Date Taken: | 03.19.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 03.21.2014 15:45 |
| Story ID: | 122375 |
| Location: | SALEMBURG, NC, US |
| Hometown: | MATTHEWS, NC, US |
| Hometown: | OXFORD, NC, US |
| Web Views: | 1,620 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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